LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It has been a year since the Creation Museum opened, and the museum is drawing big crowds.

According to officials at the attraction, some 550,000 people have visited the venue since it opened in May 2007.

Exhibits in the museum come straight from the Old Testament. There is a state-of-the-art planetarium, animatronics and a massive model of Noah's Ark.

It took $27 million in private donations to build the museum draws families, home-schooled children, Christian school groups and even some skeptics.

"We made a decision quite a few years ago, that we wanted to do it first-class. as good as you would see at museums or Disney World or Universal Studios," founder Ken Ham said. "It's become an attraction in its own right, regardless of the message that we have here."

One visitor drove his family all the way from Wisconsin to take the tour.

"I do believe in Creation, that God created it all," said the visitor. "I'm appreciative that there is a place to go for ourselves and our kids, to look at that view."

The museum is located in rural northern Kentucky about 30 minutes from Cincinnati.